A big part of making beer at home is to be able to repeat recipes, even if it is yours. I love experimenting, and too often I'm just making beer based on what ever ingredients I have, so I rarely actually follow recipes. Lately I've decided to try and repeat recipes, as part of making sure my process is right and I can actually control the brewing process. I am aware that this … [Read more...]
Chocolate (ish) Porter (ish) Brewing Day
Too many times lately my Black ales have been getting a distinct porter edge to them after a few minutes in room temperature (which says something about my black ale!), so I wanted to actually try and make a porter, intentionally. The idea was to find a recipe for a porter and make it a bit more chocolaty, but I wasn't really successful here - it came out with a clear coffee … [Read more...]
Hefeweizen Brewing Day
I've never been a huge fan of wheat beers - the heavy, bready feel is slightly too much for me as an ale drinker, but since I had a couple of kgs of crushed wheat, I decided to dive into the world of wheat beers a bit and see what I could learn. After some exploration into the various wheat beers (there are many) I found a nice idea: a slightly sour, light wheat beer from south … [Read more...]
Oh Mama APA Brewing Day
This American Pale Ale (APA) started as a standard Pale Ale and for most of the time I have been making it, it was made wrong, just wrong: way, way too bitter - tasty, but ended up growing some more hair on your chest - not and easy beer to drink. I guess it is always nice to understand that a recipe is developed, and not just made up, but with this I think I'm done - this is … [Read more...]
Low Gravity Pale Ale Brewing Day – Take 2
One of the house hold regulars is an American-style Pale Ale (APA) called "Oh Mama!" that has always been my wife's favourite, but since she got pregnant with our second she can only "steal" sips from my beer so I wanted to make her a very low alcohol version; that way she can have a full glass while still only getting one unit of alcohol (not that she even finishes that one!). … [Read more...]